I wanted to seek some advice/guidance on my current situation in life. I graduated from an osteopathic medical school in June 2019 and scrambled into an IM residency which started in July 2019. My COMLEX 1 score was 594 and COMLEX 2 was 508. I passed both Level 1 and 2 on first attempts but due to some poor application strategies, I failed to match in my initial field of choice (radiology) and ended up scrambling into IM in a location far away from home. At the time, I was grateful to just find any residency position but after about 2 months into the residency I started considering a switch into another intriguing field which I had only done 1 medical school rotation in and felt as if I was missing out. I made a terrible decision to resign from IM after only 2 months to pursue pathology which at the time seemed like a difficult but correct choice. I did get support from my IM program director and I did end up wasting a year and reapplying and matching into a pathology program the following cycle but the program was very low on my list and again very far from family. I am currently in my PGY-1 pathology year but after about 3 months in, I realized what a terrible mistake I made by entering this field. Not only am I getting frequent migraines from microscope usage, there is a lot of formalin exposure that seems to adversely effect my lungs and throat that I was not anticipating. I spoke to my pathology PD again and am embarrassed to admit that I am reapplying to primary care specialties for a PGY-1 spot. I wanted to ask if given my stats and history whether there is a possibility for me to match into an IM or FM program if I apply broadly. My end goal now is to be a hospitalist. I know what I am getting with IM/FM and hence this is the only field I can realistically see myself succeeding in at this point. Any advice or guidance would be very much appreciated. Thank you!
